Harley-Davidson Plans to Build a Manufacturing Plant in Thailand

How Does This Affect the ’Made in the US’ Moniker?

Harley-Davidson announced in May that the company plans to build a manufacturing plant in Thailand to build motorcycles for the Asian market. Harley already has an international sales office in Singapore and adding a manufacturing facility in the region just makes sense. The question is, how is this not a threat to its "Made in the U.S." moniker?

Continue reading for my take on the new Harley plant.

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What Does It Mean?

While there is a bit of trepidation surrounding Harley-Davidson’s plans to build a manufacturing plant in Thailand, understand that the plan is not to move their production facilities to Thailand. Manufacturing in the U.S. will continue as before. Currently, Harley pays a hefty 60-percent tariff on bikes imported to Asia. Producing bikes there in the market in which they’ll be sold is a huge boon for sales and brand expansion.

I know the United Steelworkers Union is having a tizzy, but that’s what they do: create problems where none exist, and quite frankly, having the USW involved in Harley’s manufacturing goes a long way to explain Harley’s high sticker price. Harley-Davidson continues to build motorcycles in the U.S. and there’s no reason that Made in the USA is in jeopardy.

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